those of you with sensory issues that work with your hands, how do you manage the overstimulation of having stuff on you (grease, metal shavings, dirt, dust, etc.)? or is it just kind of a sensory nightmare?

I’m thinking about working in some kind of trade, but I’m worried about:

• working in the heat and feeling overstimulated by being sweaty
• feeling overstimulated by having dirty/sticky hands
• maybe other things that I haven’t even considered

@kasdeya you kinda. space out and stop being able to feel it. i get absorbed into it and i end up doing a lot of it in autopilot where i can just sort of space off and get lost in my own thoughts. I’m not a professional at working with my hands, but I do things like sanding down 3d prints, i wanna do woodworking, and recently I’ve been getting into knife sharpening. at first you might have a rag that you use to wipe your hands down but you’ll start getting frustrated with how many times you have to use it. i do baked goods which is interesting because if you know anything about me sticky does not mix. i fucking. hate sticky. i will deal with slimy, i will deal with greasy i will deal with anything but sticky. when icing cookies with the fam it got to the point where either i was gonna get up and wash my hands every minute or i would just let it crust over and build up this sort of protective layer on my hands that would remove the direct feeling of sticky from my fingers. same thing kinda applies to grease. altho when it comes to lubes i usually always try to wipe them off as quick as possible unless they’re where they need to be.

@puppygirlhornypost2 thank you - this is extremely helpful to know! I wonder if I’ll be able to do what you do - or if my specific place on the autism spectrum won’t let me. I feel like I should probably find a way to test and find out - like find something sticky/gross to work with

@puppygirlhornypost2 @kasdeya another thing that helped me when I was on a robotics team is that sanding things, handling metal and tools, your hands will build up calluses which result in your hands being less sensitive. That went a long way to helping me handle metal shavings (though wood dust and oils haven’t ever really bothered me; sticky does but mercifully few things are sticky in the work I was doing)